The office of Apostle was a successive office from the beginning.
That's why, in Acts 1, we see the Apostles voting on a SUCCESSOR for Judas - not a mere "replacement".
Acts 1:21 says, "Let another take his office".
The word used here for "Office" is "Episkopay" (Bishopric). The office of Bishop is successive.
- Irenaeus, in his treatise, Against Heresies (2nd century) gives a list of the Bishops of Rome (Popes) - from hos own day - back t Peter.
- Respected Protestant historian and scholar, J.N.D. Kelly, in his Oxford Dictionary of Popes lists ALL of the Popes - starting with Peter.
- Protestant historian, Kenneth Samples, writing for the Christian Research Institute (CRI), in his essay, What Think Ye of Rome wrote the following:
"Catholicism, on the other hand, is the largest body within Christendom, having almost a two‐thousand‐year history (it has historical continuity with apostolic, first century Christianity), and is the ecclesiastical tree from which Protestantism originally splintered."
Thems' the facts . . .